Green Meme Blogger #1

Annie tagged me for a green meme a few weeks ago but I’m just getting to it now. So here goes!

1) Name two motivations for being green?

I have always loved Canada and the fact that there is forest, mountains, ocean, etc. all around us. I want my children to grow up to appreciate nature as much as I do and I want it to be there for them to appreciate. So many people don’t realize what an impact we have on everything around us.

Also, I enjoy living simpler and trying to live in harmony with everything around us. It’s cheaper, often easier, cleaner, healthier… It just makes more sense to me!

2) Name 2 eco-UNfriendly items you refuse to give up?

My dryer. I’ve lived without one and it wasn’t the end of the world, but since I have one, I won’t not use it.

Our computers. We have three of them, one of which is never off (it’s our server) and the other two are on a lot during the day.

3) Are you at peace with or do you feel guilty about number 2?

I’m at peace with it. I have experimented with our dryer settings and we dry most things at low heat for a short amount of time. Diapers are often still a bit damp at the end and I hang them to dry them the rest of the way. Most of my clothes I hang to dry anyway because it’s better for the clothes. So it’s not like I’m setting everything on hot for the maximum length of time. One day maybe I’ll have an outside line, but right now I just don’t see that being realistic for us.

As for the computers, we actually tried to sell one of them and were going to live with just 2 (the server and one other), but it didn’t sell and I’m kind of glad. Sometimes when Meredith is sleeping/napping we each will go on one and it’s nice to have that option. I’d love to get a laptop instead of my desktop. We’ve been talking about getting rid of our server and hosting our websites on another server though.

4) What are you willing to change but feel unable to/stuck with/unsure how to go about it?

I would love to start gardening more and growing our own produce. I am not a gardener though and my yard is tiny (I want there to be some left for Meredith to play in!). I feel like I don’t have the knowledge, skill, or time to actually make that happen.

5) Do you know your carbon footprint for your home? If so, is it larger/smaller than your national average?

I’m not sure offhand, but I know it’s a lot smaller than the national average, especially since we just got rid of our car and don’t plan to buy another for at least a few months, if not longer. We turn off lights when we’re not in a room and turn off power bars on things that we’re not using.

6) What’s eco-frustrating and/or eco-fantastic about where you live?

Fantastic:

I can think of a few things. We’re near a grocery store so can walk for groceries. The bus system is decent. This city has a great soft plastic recycling program. We live on a green belt and have tons of pathways and forested area to walk along. And the car co-op is way up there too of course.

Frustrating:

Our windows suck and I’m sure it means the heat is on a lot more than it really needs to be, even though we actually keep our place fairly cool and wear layers. I have the same beef about sidewalks as Annie does: there really aren’t enough of them here and it makes some places hard to walk to safely, especially with children.

7) Do you eat local/organic/vegetarian/forage/grow your own?

I would love to grow my own, but it hasn’t happened yet. We do try and eat local and organic as much as possible, and eat seasonally as well. One bad thing about not having a car is it’s going to be a lot harder to get to the local food co-ops and farmer’s markets.

What do you personally find the most challenging in being green?

Um, the rest of the world? It’s hard sometimes to be green when companies are packaging everything in plastic, greener options are often more expensive (especially if you don’t know about things like how easy it is to make your own cleaners), and there’s still not a lot of support or understanding in a lot of the general population. The world is getting better, but being green is almost becoming a fad now, which has good and bad points. Companies are trying to profit off of it and I think people don’t realize that many things that seem like good, green ideas actually aren’t so much when you take into account things like production or shipping.

9) Do you have a green confession?

While I do believe humans have an impact on the environment and the world around us, I don’t really believe in anthropogenic global warming as such and I think Al Gore is a hypocrit and definitely someone who has cashed in on the green fad.

10) Do you have the support of family and/or friends?

I think so. Some of my family thinks we’re odd/strange for some of the things we do (like making our own cleaners), but none of them try and change our minds or anything. Most of my friends have very similar values to us about things like that too, so they are supportive.

The Guidelines:

1. Link to Green Meme Bloggers

2.Link to whoever tagged you

3.Include meme number

4.Include these guidelines in your post

5.Answer questions (erm – that bit’s quite important)

6.Tag 3 other green bloggers.

I tag:

Alice

Sarah

Amanda (whose blog I just started reading but am enjoying it so far!)

Related posts:

1. Green Meme #2
2. Moving
3. Getting into shape
4. Clutter and Stuff